The present invention relates to a refrigerated automatic vending machine for bottles or cans. More specifically, the present invention relates to an improvement in vend baskets therefor so as to expand their capacity while preventing the vended article from becoming jammed or misaligned as well as insuring that only one article at a time reaches the dispensing port.
Coin operated automatic vending machines for bottles and cans having one or more vend baskets which include a roll-off ramp which is inclined toward a pivoted dispensing lid at the front of a refrigerated chest or housing are well known. One such vending machine is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,235,351, entitled, "Merchandise Dispensing Device For A Vending Machine", which issued to R. Kolbl, et al. on Nov. 25, 1980. One of the features disclosed in that patent is a sheet metal guide which is located directly above the sensing lid which forms a stop and insures that the articles do not jam or become misaligned and that only one article at a time reaches the dispensing device. Moreover, two or more rows of cylindrical articles are uniformly arranged on an inclined roll-off ramp which forms a continuous surface.
Furthermore, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,576,272, entitled, "Counter Top Or Wall Mounted Vending Machine", which issued to A. R. Morgan, Jr., et al. on Mar. 18, 1986, there is disclosed a coin operated vending machine for bottles and cans of a moderate capacity including a plurality of side-by-side vend chutes which feed the articles to be vended to a respective cradle type dispensing lid located on the front wall of the vending machine. Each vend chute, moreover, is configured in the form of a serpentine basket having a rearward slanting upper shelf and a forward slanting lower shelf which support cans in a multiple tiered arrangement. Cans are guided from the upper shelf to the lower shelf by means of a passagewawy adjacent a rear wall which has an upper curved portion. In the process of rolling to a dispensing lid, an empty space arises inevitably between the lower and upper ramps or shelves. Such an empty space is undesirable if a relatively high holding capacity of the basket is desired.